Gingerbread

The prize-winning, bestselling author of Boy, Snow, Bird and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours returns with a bewitching and inventive novel.

Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories—equal parts wholesome and uncanny, from the tantalizing witch's house in "Hansel and Gretel" to the man-shaped confection who one day decides to run as fast as he can—beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe.

Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druh�strana, the far-away (and, according to Wikipedia, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. In fact, the world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend, Gretel Kercheval—a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met.

Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the reader.

Autorul premiat, cel mai bine vandut al cartii Baiat, zapada, pasare si Ce nu este al tau nu este al tau revine cu un roman vrajitor si inventiv. Influentat de locul misterios pe care il tine turta dulce in povestile clasice pentru copii - parti egale sanatoase si neobisnuite, din tentantele casa vrajitoarei din „Hansel si Gretel” catre confectia in forma de om care intr-o buna zi decide sa alerge cat de repede poate - iubita romanciera Helen Oyeyemi invita cititorii intr-o poveste incantatoare a unei surprinzatoare mosteniri familiale, in care mostenirea este o reteta. Perdita Lee poate parea a fi o scoala britanica obisnuita; Harriet Lee poate parea doar o mama muncitoare care incearca sa patrunda in ierarhia sociala a scolii; dar exista semne ca s-ar putea sa nu fie atat de normale pe cat cred.